The Price of Belonging: Or, I wonder how many people would read this
by Falcon's Jade
Summary: From the kink meme: It's a Ravager rite of passage that, before a member is fully inducted, they need to go out, join some group, then kill them all and return to the Ravagers. It's a test to see if the candidate is willing to set aside all other emotional ties and dedicate themselves to the Ravagers. Peter passes this test with flying colors. Warning for character deaths, complete


**For the Guardians of the Galaxy Kink Meme. **

_Prompt: It's a Ravager rite of passage that, before a member is fully inducted, they need to go out, join some group, then kill them all and return to the Ravagers. It's a test to see if the candidate is willing to set aside all other emotional ties and dedicate themselves to the Ravagers. Peter passes this test with flying colors._

**Fill: **The Price of Belonging: Or, I wonder how many people would read this

Yondu's at the med bay when the Milano pings his ship. The pirate captain had just watched Horuz draw his last breath, the man dying of the fatal injuries in the latest Ravager skirmish. It should have been Yondu dying, but Horuz was loyal until the very end, willing to lay down his life for his captain.

A true Ravager, a death worthy of a fully inducted member.

Horuz had once belonged to some other small-time gang, but he had joined the Ravagers, and he had followed the rite of passage. He had joined some other team, some charity group dedicated to feeding the poor, before slaughtering the poor bastards in their sleep. As far as stories go, Horuz had been merciful, some of the other Ravagers had made their rite of passage as bloody as possible. Just to show Yondu how sincere and serious they were.

Kraglin will always hold a special place in Yondu's frozen heart for starting to a fight with the captain and letting the shit get kicked out of him, joining some Ravager rival gang in revenge, developed a close friendship with their captain, only to kill them all so he could return. Yondu still remembered the crazed smile on Kraglin's face when the Xanderian had presented the enemy's head to Yondu.

Ravagers will prove that they were dedicated solely to the Ravager clause, they must be willing to set aside all other ties.

And Peter had passed the test.

Yondu had to count himself impressed, he had been sure the kid will be one of the failures. He had accused the Terran as soft, had seen how self-sacrificing the boy was. Yondu had been pretty sure Peter will never have what it took to be a Ravager.

But except for a slight tremor in his voice, Peter was fine.

The Milano docked by the hulking Ravager ship and Peter stepped forth with his trophies. Not a head like Kraglin, but other things. Like the blood that still stained Peter's maroon leather outfit.

"Rocket's," Peter said without prompting, "Little rodent was the last one to go."

Around them the Ravagers are celebrating, Peter had brought alcohol aboard the ship, "From all corners of the galaxies!" While everyone around them chugged and drank, Yondu took his time sipping his. Whatever Peter had brought, it was good, and he hadn't told Yondu what it was. The Centaurian was taking his time, trying to see if he could figure out the ingredients, and listening to Peter's story.

"I would have thought otherwise," Yondu eyed the stains dubiously, "Aren't you going to get that cleaned up?"

"I will eventually, give me a break, he just died."

"What happened?"

"We had a scuffle on the Milano, vicious animal put up a fight, was especially angry since I confessed to Groot's death. I eventually had to throw him out into the open space, he won't survive out there, and his body may never be recovered. I guess his guns are all that's left for me, or maybe I can get some of this blood into a vial and keep it around."

"Aye," Yondu eyed the other items on the table, "You'll keep these as trophies?"

"I know while some Ravagers just leave the group after their kills, others keep a few trinkets, as reminders and as trophies. I'll be keeping those."

"Tell me how you got them."

"Well, where to start?" Peter looked over the items again, before he picked up a wooden frame, "From the beginning always worked."

Encased inside the wooden frame was a sheet of gray skin with a brilliant tattoo, the design intricate and the meaning foreign. Yondu nodded, "The Destroyer?"

"Drax wasn't meant to be the first, but that's how things turned out," Peter ran a hand over the glass. "I had to keep this hidden for so long, didn't want the others finding it. Would have been hard to explain."

"What happened?"

"He cared for me, but he was possessive," Peter smiled humourlessly. "It was cute at first, he was such a literal guy, had no problems telling me he wanted me safe and well, had no problems telling me I should stop using Ravager contacts for our jobs. Was always hovering around me, some misplaced concern substituting me as the child he lost perhaps. Target of the day had me drugged and willing to be eaten by some monster pet, the guy probably had a gore kink, and Drax bursts in to save the day. Drax killed the guy and carried me out to the door, where I recovered enough to knife him. I barely managed to skin some of him before the pet monster caught up and I had to run."

"I can imagine the look on his face when you stabbed him," Yondu smirked. "How long did it take before you took out the next one?"

"Not long, Gamora was intended to be the first, too dangerous and recognizable." Peter put down the wooden frame and picked up a glass jar, inside it was what resembled a thick metal bracelet. Yondu recognized it as one of Gamora's body modifications, all of Thanos' children had some. "Gamora didn't really believe me when I said Drax was eaten, she knew Drax should have been able to handle himself, but the drugs still in my system was proof of what I told her about our target drugging Drax and having him eaten."

"Did she suspect you?"

"Nope, neither did she had the chance, despite what she may say she clearly grieved for Drax's death and was still grieving when we had his funeral."

Yondu grinned sharp teeth, "Xander wanted to make it fancy?"

"A hero's funeral, they probably wanted everything, Nova Corps in dress uniform and trumpets and long speeches. We declined, told them Drax would have wanted a quiet funeral between friends since he had no family left. Had it back on his home planet and that was when Nebula attacked."

"I hear Nebula killed Gamora when she proved uncooperative as a human shield," Yondu drawled. "Since that was the story _you_ told, is that truly what happened?"

"Nebula did try to use Gamora as a shield when I caught up with them, that part was true. Just that when she demanded my surrender, I simply fired through Gamora to get to her. Gamora died instantly, Nebula lasted a bit longer. Her face…she was so shocked that I would kill Gamora to get to her, accused me of everything Gamora once accused me of and said that even as Thanos' daughter she would never deceive her friends or enemies like that."

"She really thought there would be honour among thieves?"

"Guess she did buy into that delusion, Thanos' favourite daughters are not as cruel as he wanted them to be." Peter stared into his untouched drink, "I told her about the rite of passage, she was dying anyways. I told her what Ravagers had to prove, she told me you were no better than Thanos then. That I was fooling myself trying to kill people for your approval, that you were the same as any abusive parent."

Yondu roared with laughter, he had to take a few more swings from his drink to calm himself down. "Did you take a souvenir from her?"

"I couldn't," Peter pouted, "I heard footsteps approaching and had to shoot Nebula before the local cops arrived. Rocket was there, I couldn't get rid of the evidence like with Drax. I told them that Nebula was holding Gamora hostage and Gamora was telling me to shoot, but when I did I hit her instead. Nebula laughed and I lost it and shot her. I was quite broken up about it actually, I was already grieving over Drax's death and then had to suffer guilt and remorse on top of that. Let me also say that Rocket and Groot are terrible at comforting people."

Good drinks and a story that proved Peter's dedication, forget Horuz's death, today was one of Yondu's best days. "But you managed to get your assassin's bracelet?"

"She was very minimalist even when she lived on the Milano, I told anyone who asked that I wanted some reminder of her. Hey, it's true, just not for the reasons they may have thought."

"Indeed," Yondu took another sip, "Did you bury her there too? Or did you make another trip?"

"It was nice, the area we were in, and Gamora did say she wanted to die surrounded by friends. Her planet was already destroyed, and while I might not be the friend she wanted, Drax ultimately was. I thought she and Drax deserved that resting place together."

"How sentimental," the Centaurian drawled. "And the bounty hunters?"

"As you know, Groot was next, and the most difficult," Peter grimaced. "You were right, I was soft, Groot was a sapling and just like a _child_ and I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wasn't sure how to kill him, I made excuses not to kill him, I actually hesitated. There was a point where I seriously considered sparing him, and focusing on Rocket instead. The raccoon was giving me some pretty cool weaponry though, and dealt with his grief by making them even _better_. Then I noticed he started looking at me funny and I started to think Groot might have seen or said something, children could be so nosy."

"You have no idea," Yondu snorted, "I remember you and how much of a brat you were."

Peter shrugged, "I found the solution, or in the case the poison, for Groot easy enough. Colourless, odourless, common enough to be laced into the soil and water we were giving him." He fingered the single white flower on the table, suspended in some sort of preserving liquid in a special container. "I pretended not to understand his distress and gave him more of that stuff to make him better, whatever his body could do it couldn't get rid of the poison fast enough. I scraped off the poisonous signs off his bark, but Rocket still found out. He was furious, blamed me for killing Groot, even though to his knowledge it was an accident. Blamed me for killing Gamora and Drax too, he didn't know how accurate he was."

"Is that when you killed him?" Kraglin grinned as he plopped down on the seat beside them. "When you two fought and you admitted to his accusations?"

Peter wrinkled his nose, "Really liking that stuff, hum? Your breath reeks of alcohol."

"Don't dodge the question, kid!" Kraglin laughed, "I can't imagine you holding a secret for long, did you confess right there?"

"I did," Peter admitted. "I told him how I killed the others, how I killed Groot. Rocket launched himself at me and we fought, I ended up opening a hatch and tossing him outside to space. I must have fallen into shock, I don't remember what happened between that moment and the moment I decided to get the alcohol out and ping the Ravager ship."

Kraglin patted Peter's shoulder, "Comfort yourself knowing that with their deaths they have helped you achieve true Ravager status. You belonged to us, and now you will be one of us."

"There were studies done by my people," Peter mused, "That we are hardwired to find some sort of community, that we desire some sense of belonging. It's said that the earliest ones we identified with, often through familial and cultural ties, are the hardest to break from."

"The Ravagers were yours then," Kraglin grinned, before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out.

Mental alarm bells started ringing in Yondu's ears when Kraglin didn't start snoring.

Along with this realization was the realization that his body felt cold and paralyzed, he couldn't move, he was having trouble starting to breath. Around him there was silence, Yondu was so absorbed in Peter's story he hadn't noticed as his crew started to fall, one after another, until it was only him and Peter left. His men were sprayed out all over the floor and their chairs, all still and deathly silent.

With great effort Yondu dragged his eyes back at Peter, and at the untouched drink in the boy's hand. Peter knew that Yondu knew now, and spoke softly, "There is something you need to know: the poison coursing through you now is fast acting and painless, like going to sleep, but may mess with certain immune systems. Groot's filtered through the poison, but honestly I wasn't too comfortable letting him make too much, he is still a child."

"Groot poisoned the drinks?" If Yondu had the strength he would throw it at Peter's face, but his body wasn't responding, it was already shutting down.

"Rocket attacked me for letting Groot do it, he said we should wait until we got some real poison, but most of what's out there you would know already. A few Ravagers did go through their rite of passage with poison, you may have called them cowardly but it didn't stop you from asking and learning about the poisons out there. Groot could create something less common, so he did it, Rocket was furious when he found out and did attack me as a response. Gamora had to pull him off."

Yondu watched Peter run a hand over the metal bracelet that was – still? – belonged to Gamora. "This, like so many other tools, were what Thanos gave his children. Gamora had wanted to be rid of it, we found a Xanderian who was able to safely remove it from her. That was clean and safe, I did not like how Drax provided me his 'trophy', the man skinned the tattoo off himself. Said the tattoo symbolized his lone soldier status but he didn't need it anymore for obvious reasons, it took weeks to wash the blood off Milano."

"I want to let you know, that I did try," Peter knew Yondu couldn't speak, and so continued filling the silence. "I was captured by a target and I did knife Drax when he rescued me, only instead of running, I went back for him and pulled him out. We suspected that the target was ready for us because of a spy in our employer's circles, so we pretended he died. As for Gamora, Nebula did hold her hostage and I did shoot, only thing was, I had been teaching Gamora how to dance for a while. Before I fired I made the appropriate steps, she recognized the moment she should dip and did so just as I fired. Nebula did think I was ready to kill Gamora, and I did tell her about the Ravager rite of passage. Rocket and Groot apparently had heard of it, in fact that was how Rocket's creators were killed. No wonder he always seemed to think me expandable, but after I confessed to everything he told me Nebula already said everything he needed to say, just missing some things."

Peter leaned forward, eyes unmoving, "You and the Ravagers weren't just some abusive parents, your rites of passage are a poison you have inflicted to the rest of the universe. You demand that anyone who wanted to belong must kill someone else first, that is the type of teaching Thanos gave, that is the way a poison or virus would work. I am not a Ravager, not the poison, I am now the cure for this galaxy, I am a Guardian."

_And I have chosen who I belong to_

By now Yondu didn't even have the strength to spit or glare at Peter's face, but he kept his eyes open, watching Peter until he couldn't anymore, watching until the reaper came.

Peter waited until Yondu's eyes glazed over, and there was a silence on the Ravager ship. He reached out for the glass containing Groot's flower and shattered it, the fragile petals floated up into the air.

The rest of the Guardians would be coming soon, Groot would be able to track where a part of him was. Peter hoped they weren't letting Rocket take over, the raccoon had been slowly donating his blood to splash over Peter's clothing, all for this little scheme. Plus, Rocket may still be mad about him about Groot.

Rocket would likely blow this ship to smitherans, along with the 'trophies' and the evidence of the Guardians' new poison. Peter stood up and looked over the Ravagers crew, many of whom he recognized, a few who he did not and he couldn't help but wonder if they had passed their rites yet. Who knew how many other Ravager candidates were out there now, ready to kill another unsuspecting group.

For those, Peter could only deal with later.

He reached over and tenderly closed Yondu's eyes, than he stood and walked out without looking back.

**End: **The Price of Belonging: Or, I wonder how many people saw this coming


End file.
